Josh is hiking Glacier National Park. He has now hiked a total of $17 \text{ km}$ and is $2 \text{ km}$ short of being $\dfrac12$ of the way done with his hike. Write an equation to determine the total length in kilometers $(h)$ of Josh's hike. Find the total length of Josh's hike.
Explanation: Let $h$ be the total length of Josh's hike. $\dfrac12$ of Josh's hike is equal to $\dfrac12h \text{ km}$. He is $2\text{ km}$ short of being done with $\dfrac12$ of his hike. The distance Josh has hiked already is $\dfrac12h - 2$. Since the distance he has already hiked is $17 \text{ km}$, let's set this equal to $17$ : $ \dfrac12h - 2=17$ Now, let's solve the equation to find the total length of Josh's hike $(h)$. $\begin{aligned} \dfrac12h - 2&=17\\ \\ \dfrac12h - 2{+2}&=17{+2}&&{\text{add }2} \text{ to each side}\\ \\ \dfrac12h&=19\\ \\ \dfrac{\dfrac12h}{{\dfrac12}}&=\dfrac{19}{{\dfrac12}}&&\text{divide each side by ${\dfrac12}$}\\ \\ h&=38\end{aligned}$ The equation is $\dfrac12h - 2=17$. The total length of Josh's hike is $38 \text{ km}$.